I do not believe that criminal justice deserves high priority in the first year of a new national administration. In part this is a function of the abundance of more pressing concerns in other areas. In part it is also a result the limited role of the national government in crime and punishment. But it is also true that most of the problems in federal and state criminal justice are chronic rather than acute, and historically a sense of emergency is almost never helpful in framing national criminal justice policy.
The federal government has been doing a bad job in many of the criminal justice functions. But much of the problem has been a matter of personnel rather than any programmatic details. New leadership in a variety of DOJ and research settings is job one for a new administration; the new leadership can then generate programmatic proposals in the next years of a first term. So again, there is no pressing sense that immediate programmatic work is required.
One part of the “infra-structure” stimulus package needs attention relating to criminal justice - and that is programmatic priorities and limits. A police force initiative is one national priority (for cities and counties). Prison construction programs should probably be excluded, even in crowding situations, although the boundaries between facility upgrading and capacity expansion are hard to define and police.
Frank Zimring is the William G. Simon Professor of Law and Wolfen Distinguished Scholar